COTABATO CITY – All mosques in Baguio City have been padlocked for alleged defiance by their administrators of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) enforced by government in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF).
NCMF-Baguio field workers led by Administrative Director Abdullah Macarimpas enforced the mass closure of over a dozen of mosques on Saturday and Sunday after receiving reports that some of such religious facilities surreptitiously held taraweeh prayers in the advent of Ramadan fasting month, agency spokesman Jun Alonto-Datu Ramos said.
“Mayor Benjamin Magalong had also received word that some mosque administrators allowed gatherings arranged by some groups,” Datu Ramos said, noting that “Baguio City has been one of the strictest LGUs in implementing the ECQ guidelines.”
Pursuant to social distancing prescribed under the national ECQ, NCMF Secretary Saidamen Pangarungan in consultation with the national councils of imams and ulama (Islamic scholars) issued advisories that suspend the conduct of congregational prayers in all mosques across the country.
A similar injunction was issued by Grand Mufti Mohammad Abu Hurayra Udasan of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, suspending mass gatherings in big or small mosques across the region for similar legal basis.
Among those covered by the NCMF and BARMM Muftih’s advisories are the famous Golden and Blue Mosques in Manila and Taquig cities, and the historical Shariff Mahdum Masjid in Tawi-Tawi and Panoramic Brunei Darussalam Sultan Bolkiah Mosque in this city, respectively.
Some skeptics have argued that social distancing could still be observed in Islamic congregation prayers, posting an illustrative image in the social media Facebook.
But Islamic scholars said social distancing in mosque would contravene the hadith of Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.) that prescribed for shoulder-to-shoulder physical range in sa’af (mass prayer row) for congregational prayers. (Ali G. Macabalang)